News from Brass Monkey-Land: “New Zealand may not have warmed at all in the past 100 years, according to a peer-reviewed paper published in the international science journal, Environmental Modelling & Assessment.” New paper suggests no warming in NZ in past 100 years – YAHOO NEWS

Evidence?? “’The law changed on December 1, cutting the limit from 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to 50mg, and from 400 micrograms of alcohol per litreof breath to 250mcg.’ … There was about a 12% increase in drink-related fatalities where non-drink fatalities was up by about 5%.” New drink driving limit, same old stats – Eric Crampton, OFFSETTING BEHAVIOUR

Evidence??? “The study was based on two surveys that asked Auckland residents what features they looked for in a house, and what features they would prioritise given budget constraints. It showed that contrary to the council’s claims that Aucklanders’ housing preferences have shifted towards higher-density living, the vast majority of people in the city prefer standalone houses with nice backyards.” Auckland Council study busts its own spin – Stephen Berry, VOXY

Another day, another common-sense liberalisation: “Irish Government looks set to adopt Portuguese style decriminalisation of personal possession.” Public to have say on legality of drugs – IRISH EXAMINER

Intellectual property lawyer Adam Mossoff was interviewed by an inventor for his University of Young Entrepreneurs podcast series. “We discuss the basics of patent law and trademark law, as well as the current patent legislation that is pending in the U.S., and why it is rightfully opposed by individual inventors, small business owners, universities and other innovators.”

“It is now largely overlooked, but the 19th century had its own precursor to EMU in the shape of the Latin Monetary Union … much of the Union’s history was dogged by the narrow technical issues of how, firstly, to structure its members’ own monetary system and, thereafter, to align it more closely with those of the non-members, there were other features, too, which are still very much germane today. Timeo Danaos (et Romanos) – Sean Corrigan, COBDEN CENTRE

The Austrian School of economics has a concept called a “crack-up boom” in which a critical mass of people conclude that their government is actively trying to devalue its currency. Consumers respond by front-running the government, spending their paychecks immediately in order to convert their soon-to-be-less-valuable money into real things … “ Greece’s Crackup Boom—–When New Fridges Become Money – John Rubino, DOLLAR COLLAPSE

“Commentators are of the view that the key factor behind the troubles in Greece is high government debt, which as a percentage of GDP stood at over 177% in 2014 against 79.6% in 1990. We suggest that it is not debt as such that is behind the current crisis in Greece but instead large government outlays and strong increases in the money supply. … ”Loose fiscal and monetary policies have been instrumental in the generation of various non-productive activities that have been squandering wealth.” Should Greece loosen its fiscal and monetary stance – Frank Shostak, COBDEN CENTRE

“The problems caused by Keynesian theory is not that you end up with a sudden downturn, but that you squeeze the life out of the economy by a form of slow asphyxiation. If you have a job and a house, and you continue to work and live where you lived before, nothing much changes around you, other than a rise in prices and a slowdown in income after tax. You are affected but not a lot. Those in transitions, either entering the economy to work, looking for better jobs at higher pay or trying to buy a house, all these are at the pointy end. They notice, since the ability to rise up the income scale is obstructed by some invisible barrier. Things just don’t work out. Which brings me to this story: Americans Are Delaying Major Life Events Because of Money Worries. Life is getting harder so corners are being cut.” Onwards and downwards – Steve Kates, LAW OF MARKETS

“Indeed, the expansion of capitalism and freer international trade has coincided with an era of slow economic growth, high unemployment, increased child labor, skyrocketing inequality, and grinding poverty. Just kidding, that’s not what happened at all.” In Praise of Capitalist Globalisation – F.E.E.

“Among all the mindless blather served up by the talking heads of bubblevision is the recurrent claim that “its all priced-in”. That is, there is no danger of a serious market correction because anything which might imply trouble ahead—-such as weak domestic growth, stalling world trade or Grexit——is already embodied in stock market prices.” It Is NOT Priced-In, Stupid! – David Stockman, CONTRA CORNER

“Mark Faber explains that the Central Bankers have got it very badly wrong.”

“Then shut down the IMF and World Bank which helped create these debt crises in the first place. These institutions haven’t averted financial crises. They have enabled them through their lending policies that are the equivalent of giving crack cocaine hits to drug addicts. That story never ends well, and, alas, Greece is the first tragic example of that lesson." As Greece collapses, the big loser is socialism – Stephen Moore, FOX NEWS

Never helpful; never right. “But who cares about constantly being wrong right here, right now (aside from 11 million Greeks that is) when your projections keep promising that growth is always “just around the corner” … “ Five Years Of Glorious IMF "Hockey Stick" Comedy – ZERO HEDGE

“If a posthumous Nobel Prize was awarded for crystal-clear writing and masterful storytelling in economics, no one would be more deserving of it than Frédéric Bastiat.” Frédéric Bastiat Deserves a Posthumous Nobel – Lawrence Reed, THE FREEMAN

“One is about whether the philosophy of Kant is partly responsible for World War I: ‘It is possible that the Great War was in some true sense a day of reckoning for Kantian thought.’ “How is that possible, since Kant died over a century before the great conflict between the German-led Central powers and the Allies? ”Dewey’s response begins with describing Kant as ‘the thinker who for the past seventy-five years supplied the bible of German thought.’” John Dewey on Kant and the causes of World War I – STEPHEN HICKS

“How tragic to think that someone could run through the streets of a busy town bellowing in pain, and no one would come forward to help him! How sad that everyone would turn a deaf ear…” The Man in Despair – JALAJA BONHEIM

“Above all, we need to get away from this ticket-selling, click-baiting entertainment drivel. Art is difficult, not in the banal sense of being hard to understand, but in the sense that it gets to the core of our being, a difficult place for everybody.” The Artistic Perils of Populism – BRYAN APPLEYARD.COM

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